Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today. WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Everybody knows that nuclear weapons have been used twice in wartime and with terrible consequences. Often overlooked, however, is […]
Remembering a Founding Tragedy of Our Modern World
Viewpoint by Ali Moussa The writer is Coordinator of UNESCO’s Slave Route Project. This article first appeared on UNESCO Website on 22 August 2019, a day before the International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolion initiated by UNESCO. PARIS (IDN-INPS) – Among the major crimes that have marked human history, the […]
New Climate Reality Is Frightening, But Surmountable
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) – The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, […]
UN Chief Stresses the Urgency of Tackling Climate Emergency
Viewpoint by António Guterres The UN Secretary-General met with the Group of Seven (G7) leaders during the 3-day summit to mobilize action ahead of the Climate Action Summit taking place in New York on September 23. Following are extensive excerpts from the transcript of his Press Encounter at the G7 Summit which ended in Biarritz […]
The IAEA: In Search of a Director General
By Tariq Rauf * VIENNA (IDN) – For only the sixth time in its 62 year history, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is engaged in the search for a new Director General. The Agency was established in Vienna in 1957, to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy while preventing its misuse for weapons […]
Much More Needed than Planting a Trillion Trees
Viewpoint by Tim Christophersen The growing enthusiasm for forests and trees is a good thing. But we need to be mindful of some pitfalls lurking along the way. With the right approach, we can make the conservation and restoration of ecosystems, including the planting of billions of new trees, a major step in building the […]
Educating Youth for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
By Jayathma Wickramanayake The writer is UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. Following are extensive excerpts from her article in July 2019 issue of the UN Chronicle. The views expressed do not necessarily imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – At the end of May this year, I visited the Gaza Strip […]
In Hong Kong the Two Sides Must Meet Each Other Half Way
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – In 1995 in a little remembered event Li Ruthuan, a member of the Chinese Politiburo (containing the top seven in the government), made a speech likening the Chinese take-over of Hong Kong to the case of a lady who had agreed to sell a 100-year-old Yi-Xiang teapot […]
UN To Commemorate 20th Anniversary of the Culture of Peace Declaration
Interview with Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury* NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted, by consensus and without reservation, its pioneering and norm-setting resolution 53/243 on the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace in 1990. The forthcoming UNGA is convening on September 13 the High-Level Forum on the […]
The Slow Process That is Evolution
Viewpoint by Dr S.S. Sira* TORONTO (IDN) – Evolution is a slow process. It is surprisingly orderly. Everything that is observed obeys laws that have been enunciated by science. Only in the last 100 years much progress has been made. Physics of the structure and the properties of the atom have been worked out. The […]